Wales Business Support from Innovas

Innovas has been active in Wales since 2006 working with business, government and education. We have established a team of consultants based across the country able to work in both Welsh and English to suit the needs of our individual clients.

Some of the projects which we have delivered include:

Strategic Review and Re-design of Business Support leading to the establishment of FS4B services, the successor to Business Eye. This was carried out on behalf of the Welsh Government.

Evaluation of the Third Mission (3M) spending by all the universities in Wales on behalf of HEFCW. 3M funding was intended to help universities engage more closely with business and their local communities.

Supporting the Welsh Government Dynamo programme since 2010 to evaluate its impact on creating entrepreneurial students and graduates as part of the YES strategy (The Strategic Driver for Enterprise Education). This has been carried out using the Enterprise Catalyst (www.enterprisecatalyst.co.uk) to assess individual entrepreneurial capacity and how this links to the type of support they have received within their education at School, FE College and University.

Evaluation of various support programmes on behalf of the Welsh Government including the Networks Project, High Performing Entrepreneurs, POWIS, Heads of Valley Innovation Programme, IP Commercialisation fund.

Evalution of Gwynedd Council’s Llwyddo’n Lleol project, an innovative £3.8 million scheme to help young people in North West Wales to move up the career ladder and succeed within their communities.

National Skills Academy Wales – Nuclear to research and develop a Business Plan, including research into future skills requirements for Nuclear and the capacity for the provision of skilled labour and education/training services from FE to HE to support it over the next decade.

Working with Menai Science Park, Bangor University and Gwynedd Council to research the need for business incubation in the area and its link to the upcoming Science Park.

Working with Welsh Government and Powys County Council to carry out an evaluation of the Severn Valley Strategic Regeneration Programme (SVSRP), a £5m programme of physical infrastructure investments in Newtown, Welshpool and Llanidloes. The work involved updating a previous baseline study: conducting 800 on-street interviews with local residents across the three towns, 300 telephone interviews with local businesses and 90 telephone interviews with voluntary/community sector groups.

Today we are also working with the Welsh Government providing business support in North West Wales to graduates who want to start a business …

… this includes running taster workshops in partnership with the University of Bangor and Llandrillo College; business advice and mentoring to develop ideas and business plans; support to apply for funding in the form of grants and loans. Individuals who wish to apply for this support must have graduated within the last 7 years.

For more information on the range of support for those wishing to start a business you can refer to the following Welsh Government website:www.business.wales.gov.uk